- NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Bruce Golding (right), new Jamaica Labour Party leader, stands in front of his deputy leaders (from left): Audley Shaw, Dr. Horace Chang, Derrick Smith and James Robertson, during the party's annual conference at the National Arena yesterday.
John Myers, Jr., Staff Reporter
A NEW DAY dawned in the political life of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the nation yesterday with Bruce Golding officially crowned as leader of the Opposition party.
"I have become the guardian of a great heritage (and) I accept this responsibility with humility knowing that I can't do it alone," Mr. Golding said.
"We must do it together and we must reach out and join hands with Jamaicans of goodwill everywhere who want to see a country in which it is righteousness, not power that exalts the nation," he humbly said in front of hundreds of jubilant party supporters who crammed into the National Arena to witness the historic occasion.
"I call on all of you to let this day be the beginning of a new day for Jamaica," he beseeched.
Mr. Golding said it was now his task to lead the JLP "and not too long from now to lead Jamaica into a brighter tomorrow, where justice will roll down like waters from a mighty stream, where liberty will flourish and grow and where prosperity will become the experience of every man, woman and child in Jamaica."
The new JLP leader chastised the Government for presiding over a country where he said crime was rampant, economic growth slow, and unemployment at an unacceptably high level. He said his vision for Jamaica was one in which "some people may be rich, but no one will have to be poor."
He said he wanted a Jamaica where "every Jamaican can feel safe and secure ... and will know that his rights will be respected and that he will get justice."
Mr. Golding said: "I don't need anybody to tell me what is the mission on which I must embark, I understand what I have taken on."
The new JLP leader lamented that the country has been burdened for the last 16 years with a government that has failed the people. He pointed out that the present government has paid nearly $500 billion in interest to service debt while it failed to spur the level of growth which other developed countries were able to achieve during the 1990s when the developed countries grew by an average 134 per cent. He noted that the present government has only been able to create 80,000 jobs in 16 years.
Mr. Golding suggested that the Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) be isolated from the influence of Government, cap the debt as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) and set credible debt reduction targets to reduce the national debt.
In stating the JLP's position on the impending Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Mr. Golding reiterated that the party was not opposed to the court, but the principle on which it was being established. He said the JLP was still of the view that not enough safeguards have been put in place to isolate the court from political influence.
He said it was his intention to lobby for a separation of powers, enactment of the Charter of Rights, impeachment for public officials, establishment of an office of Prosecutor General, Services Commission for judiciary and police and an Electoral Commission to replace the existing Electoral Advisory Committee.
But as Mr. Golding continued, for more than an hour, the number of people in the Arena began to decline. The sea of green slowly parted and the chairs on the floor became visible.
